running for my mind

10 on tired legs

Met Daniel at HHS and the plan was a 6 mile tempo...somewhere between 6:15 and 6:30. Once we started, I knew it was going to be a good workout. Not because I felt fast, but because my legs were still feeling Saturday and the past two days of 10 each. We ran along 1700 and worked our way south and east until 39th south and 20th east and then back. I had to work for the last two miles. My legs were screaming at me like it was the the end of a race. This workout helped me to make the necessary adjustments in stride and arm swing to endure when the legs really had nothing left. I am really pleased with the effort. I have put more miles on my legs this training cycle and I look forward to seeing how my body performs with some rest and a taper come race day.

6:28, 6:20, 6:18, 6:15, 6:23, 6:26  =  6:21.6 avg

10 - starting to feel pretty routine.

ran without a watch. nice to just run and enjoy some solo time.

contemplated what the summer will be like training after ogden. i have some good goals and i look forward to executing a solid plan. but, until then my focus is on may 16th.

20 - 7:07 avg. - 1,564 ft

3 solo avenues loops. The loop consists of east on 2nd ave, north up Virginia, west on 11th ave, down Memory Grove, and back east on 2nd. In each loop I picked it up for 2.5 miles on 11th and down into the grove. I did this run last year, and it is a test in multiple ways. 

I "like" doing it solo because I more than often end up racing alone in no man's land. It is good to test running long runs alone for me. Next, this route is no joke. 1,500 feet of climb starts to weigh on the legs and then I have to shift to fast downhill. I am super pleased with how it went. I took one gel at mile 12 with some water. My 3x2.5s were faster than planned as well. Now time to rest. Happy Easter weekend everyone!

6:12, 6:12, 3:05

6:02, 6:02, 3:00

5:49, 5:49, 2:50

I also wore Whit's Fitbit for fun and logged 26,189 steps. I think according to the American Heart Association I can lie in bed for the next 36+ hours. 

jumping on the tramp is good recovery.

long walk in the evening kept me loose as well. little soreness from yesterday and fatigue but no pain. we will see how tomorrow goes.

10 easy on the parkway. 

i felt like my right calf / soleus was tightening up a little on me saturday night and a little yesterday. happy to report that it didn't and i ran this morning pain free. had the typical soreness and some tight spots that loosened up after a few miles. Time to focus my training for the last few weeks before the taper. 

took me about 3-4 miles to feel halfway decent this morning. my hips were tight and I just didn't feel like running. at about mile 5 I decided to pick up the pace a little to see if it made the hips feel better. it did. by the time I finished, I wanted to go a few more but didn't have time.

Met JP and Daniel at HHS. Warmed up with a lap of Sugar House Park and then headed to the track. I was planning on some decent effort 400s, but knew my legs were tired so didn't know what to expect. 

My pace felt fine and manageable and I gradually got faster. I had a hard time with the 200 recoveries though. I felt like I was slow in getting my heart rate down. Don't know if that was due to being tired and still feeling Saturday's long run / workout or what. I am not too concerned, was just interesting. My left leg did start feeling a little weird on the 6th repeat and I didn't want to push it too much further. Ended up with 8x400. Pushed the pace chasing Daniel on the last one. He clocked a 64 and I obviously was a ways behind.

We finished up with another loop of the park. I would have liked to get 10 in, but I think I might try for 4 more later this afternoon. It was good to see JP again. He has been out with an injury and is now moving to Arizona on Friday. He is a good dude and has been a stalwart at attending the morning runs. Best of luck to him in his new job.

84, 78, 79, 77, 77, 78, 76, 71

13 watchless miles. 

Felt good to just run and enjoy the morning. The weather was great. Rain had stopped and it was a little brisk, but felt nice. 

I guess it is time to ramp up my miles a hair over the next 3 weeks before the taper. I might even toss in a few doubles, which is pretty rare for me. We shall see.

8 consisting mostly of foxy loops.

Don't know what is on the docket yet for tomorrow. Suggestions?

Another 20 down. 7:14 avg

Daniel drove out and we ran 10 out and 10 back north on the parkway. Pretty easy effort out and picked up the pace a hair on the way back without thinking about it. 8 in the 6:50s on the way back. Nice to just chat and run and have 20 done by 8 am. Took a gel at 10 but no water the entire run  

walk/bike ride around with the fam.

Olive had a temp of 103 last night so Whit and I spent the night taking turns getting little sleep.

Headed out to the parkway after work and Whit rode the bike next to me with Olive and Grey in tow. Fun to be out there together. When I got home, I got the chills. Hot bath. Apple juice. Bed. Not the best time to get sick.

 

Best pacing crew around! @wclissold with Grey and Olive in tow. #runmehappy

A photo posted by james e clissold (runmehappy) (@james_clissold) on Apr 13, 2015 at 6:28pm PDT

sick

set my alarm and woke up at 5 willing to run. then, i remembered josh telling me last year that more sleep and rest might be better than a 10 miler. i could have lugged through it and probably been fine, but i didn't really eat anything yesterday and another day of rest to come back strong on thursday is the better option. turned my alarm off and slept for another 2 hours.

not 100%. yet, here.

last night was rough. stomach pain like I have never experienced came on at about 6pm. thought I was going to end up in the ER like Fritz a few months back having an organ removed. started feeling ok and fell asleep about 10pm. woke up at 2 with similar pain. fetal position. sleep. woke up at 5:30 and decided to run.

hope I don't experience that again. something was not right.

12 along the parkway with Tyler. Good to have him come up and join me. Lots of laughs and good conversation. 

Body is feeling better. Earlier this week was quite the scare. 

Another depleted 20 and home by 7:45.

10 out and 10 back on the parkway solo. Took a gel at 10. No water. Goal was to run relatively easy with a strong finish of 4 miles sub 6:30.

Kept it at about 7:25-7:30 for the way out. Picked it up a hair on the way back and then ran 15-19 sub 6:30. I figured with yesterday's 12 and then a longer run today, pushing 4 miles at the end would be a good test of marathon pace on tired, or at least more tired, legs. Felt good. Excited for another big week of training next week...though this week was not really "big" with my 2 days off due to illness.

6:27.4, 6:27.2, 6:26.9, 6:19.5

Good luck to those running Salt Lake as I type this and to those running Boston on Monday!

AM - hot bath, stretching, stick of pain.

PM - hot tub massage session in park city at my folks. if and when i purchase a hot tub, i will make sure i have a dual pump system. the stronger the jet the better for massage and recovery.

12 - so begins peak week

AM - 10 along the parkway. Felt good. Legs a little heavy. 

PM - 3 to loosen up. Foam roller and stretch session. 

11 out on the parkway with 8x0.5 mile repeats.

My initial goal was to just hold the 0.5 mile repeats at about a 6:00 pace. When I got out there, I decided I should push them harder than that. I have not done a speed workout in a couple weeks and my left leg doesn't seem to love the top gear turnover. Today was the same. I felt ok and could have continued to push the pace of the repeats, but as soon as I get down into the 5:30 range, my left leg gets a little upset. So, I did 5 at a quicker clip and then backed off and did the last 3 at about 6:00 min pace.

2:53, 2:49, 2:47, 2:49, 2:48, 3:00, 2:59, 2:56

I am not too concerned about the leg because I don't need to run in the 5:30s for Ogden. It has been a lingering issue for some time now and I don't know what the cause was. My goal is to finish this week at 80 miles with a possible tempo tossed into the middle of the 20 miler on Saturday. Next week I will drop my mileage by 30ish% and again the following week. I will have a couple more workouts, but I think I will avoid faster than 6:00 unless someone thinks otherwise. Let me know. I also plan on doing one more 8-10 mile tempo likely next week. That will be my last confidence booster headed into Ogden.

12 easy. Took a few miles to loosen up from yesterday's workout. My legs are pretty fatigued from this training cycle. I feel like they are going to appreciate the taper. 

Crossed the 1,000 mile mark for the year. On track for hitting my goal of 3,000 for the year. Though, that might be tough because I don't know how much I will be running the last quarter of this year.

10

legs are slow and tired

does anyone else feel pretty drained by the end of a marathon cycle?
 

Wrapped up peak week with my final 20 before Ogden. 

Left my house at about 5:30 and headed to Ogden. I wanted to run part of the course because it has been 2 years and I have spent nearly every day trying to suppress my memories of the rainy fiasco known to me as Ogden 2013. 

I parked just below the dam at the top of Ogden canyon, and my buddy Nate who lives in Huntsville drove me 20 miles up the course. We ended up a couple miles past the starting point, but I wanted to get in 20 without having to double back or anything. Nate went home to eat a nice breakfast and read a book and I started running. 

Took the first 3 miles easy, though I still averaged a 7:22. I have really been wanting a 10 mile tempo to boost my confidence and last night I decided to toss it in today. My legs had 61 miles this week already so I knew it would be a challenge. I ran the next 10 of the course wanting to stay sub-6:30. My left leg was aching in my quad from that first mile but it never really got worse. I just kept plugging along and felt ok until the last mile. I was spent. It was the slowest of the ten, but I still averaged 6:23 for the tempo. 

I cruised back easy to my car 7 more miles on the course. Those averaged a 7:30 nice and easy. So overall I was under a 7:00 average for the run, the tempo boosted my confidence, and I am ready to start my taper and recover. 

6:21, 6:28, 6:20, 6:19, 6:16, 6:19, 6:24, 6:18, 6:23, and 6:36

left my house at 7:30 and got home at 4:50. seems like just another work day. not a huge fan of today.

resting now.

8 easy out on the parkway. I think my easy runs this cycle have really helped me log some decent mileage. My legs felt surprisingly good considering Saturday's pounding. I held back on my pace this morning and just kept things in motin. 

Headed to get a massage this evening to aid in the recovery and taper. 

8 with Tyler. Good to have him come out for a run before he hops on a plane tonight for 10 days of relaxing. 

My body is pretty sore from the massage and chiropractic work last night. Let's just say I might have almost cried on the table!

8 miles total

2x1min, 3x2min, 2x3min, 2x1min

I kept the first 5 at about a 5:40 pace, the next 2 at 6:00, and the last at about 6:15.

The 5:40 pace felt fine, but I could tell it was agravating my left leg a bit and I am still sore from my massage on Monday night. No sense risking anything at this point. The hard work is done. Time to get to the start line healthy.

8 on some slightly heavy legs. No pain though, so that is good. 

Trying to balance the recovery / taper and keeping the legs snappy and fresh can be a challenge. I never really know what to do the next 2 weeks.